Here & Now

Andy Jorgensen Opposes Drug Testing Legislation

Frederica Freyberg:

A leading Democrat on the Public Benefit Reform Committee takes issue with the bills concerning drug testing and food selections for recipients of government assistance. Representative Andy Jorgenson of Milton joins us now. Thanks for doing so.

Andy Jorgenson:

Thanks a lot for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

The stated intent to the drug testing bill is to make sure people on public benefits and work training programs can get jobs because they are drug-free. What is your opposition to that?

Andy Jorgenson:

This is wasteful spending. All you have to do is look at Florida. We should all know that story. They wasted millions of dollars to find out they were wrong. You take a look at states like Missouri, they spent tens of thousands of dollars to get one-tenth of one percent of drug users. You look at Utah. The list goes on. They found 17 people with what they spent. It is wasteful spending.

Frederica Freyberg:

The author of the bill says if you can help just that small number that’s good enough and we should be doing that, we should be trying to help, treat people with drug addiction so they can get gainful employment.

Andy Jorgenson:

To the author and the whole committee we said yesterday if it’s such a good plan we’ll go first. If it is so good for everybody else we should do it first. They are going to place some fancy rules on us to make that not happen, but we’re still going to trudge on. If they want to start with the merits of this bill fine. But start with us. Let’s lead by example.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you know, you talk about how it would be a waste of money. What do you know about how much it would cost to drug test those who end up being suspected of drug use?

Andy Jorgenson:

We don’t know much. We did get a lot of facts and figures. This is something that they don't even know the answers to. The Senator, a Senator that is the author of this bill he accused me of wanting to get bogged down in the details. You ask good questions but we don’t have a lot of this. It is interesting, here’s another bill that will be on the fast track. We will be voting on the floor on this soon. Why not try to get it right?

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you suppose that there will be detail on this and the cost of it by the time you vote on it?

Andy Jorgenson:

I can hope. If we look at the history in Madison right now details aren’t a priority with some of these bills. It is all about bumper sticker, it is all about feeding your base and letting them, you know, appeasing to them. That’s sad.

Frederica Freyberg:

One piece of the drug testing bills would be that the state would spend a million dollars on drug treatment. Now that would sounds like something that you would support.

Andy Jorgenson:

The drug treatment, again, no details. If you screw up, you are done. It is like you are off the grid. Let’s be clear Frederica. We are doing this is being done, a Republican told me, we’re doing this because it polls high. But I wonder how high it will poll after they blow all kinds of money on this, a half a million dollars, let’s take a poll then to find nothing like other states have found.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, there’s also the bill that was heard in committee this week about restrictions on what food share recipients can buy. And the one that stands out is no shellfish, no lobster, crab or shrimp. What’s your reaction to that bill?

Andy Jorgenson:

This bill hurts people, period. I mean, to tell a grandma, you know, you can have this and this, but grandma’s doctor is telling her in order for her to live a healthy life she needs Ensure, not on the list. To tell a single mom of teenaged boys this is what you can buy. She wants to buy in bulk when it comes to peanut butter, that’s not on the list. To pick and choose and be the food police is just going to be a big mess. It is so punitive and so wrong. This is a waste of our money as well.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about any abuses that there may be out there? What do you know about those?

Andy Jorgenson:

Well, show us. So far we have gotten anecdotes. My brother knows a guy who lives next door and he told him this. If this is something we have to take care of we want to be on board. I know as Democrats we want to take care of whatever is wrong. But give us cold hard facts. That’s how it works. And we didn’t get any. This is politics — again, playing politics with the food on the table to score points with your base.

Frederica Freyberg:

Representative Jorgenson we leave it there, thank you.

Andy Jorgenson:

Thank you for having me, Frederica.